Biden Administration Is Loaning Rivian Billions For Georgia Plant

The Biden Administration during its lame duck status announced it’s giving a $6.6 billion loan to Rivian Automotive for its “paused” plant in Georgia. While some applaud the move as necessary to modernize the US automotive industry, others believe it’s a tremendous waste of taxpayer dollars.

Here’s Jaguar’s new, bizarre concept car.

In case you’ve forgotten, back in March 2024 Rivian announced it was “pausing” the plans to build a huge manufacturing facility in Georgia. Part of the problem has been Rivian isn’t exactly making hand-over-fist cash. Plus, there’s the issue of weakening demand for electric vehicles in the US.

Originally, the Rivian plant was quoted at a cost of $5 billion. What the extra $1.6 billion in taxpayer funds is for seems to be a mystery nobody wants to dig into. We find it disturbingly irregular, considering other EV startups which received government loans went belly-up, never repaying them, like Fisker Automotive.

As reported by the Associated Press, it’s not entirely guaranteed the Biden Administration can push the loan, which is being done through the Department of Energy, through before the Trump Administration comes in January 20. With promises to slash government waste as well as end EV mandates, it’s unlikely the incoming administration would complete the transaction. Apparently, there’s even a possibility Trump would demand the loan be repaid immediately.

That Georgia facility is key to Rivian’s future plans as it tries luring in less-affluent car shoppers. The R2 and R3, smaller and more affordable all-electric SUVs, are supposed to be made at the new factory. But Rivian previously said the plan was shifted to produce those models at its Illinois plant instead.

If completed according to previously revealed plans, the plant in Georgia would be larger and able to whip out more vehicles than the one in Illinois, which is a former Mitsubishi factory.

Image via Rivian